Last week I made a list of my Top 30 NES games, after the NES Classic was announced. Thirty is a big list for a single console, it’s 2/3 of the NES games I’ve played. So I thought it would be interesting to look at the 16 games that didn’t make the cut. A number of these games are of superior quality to the games I put on my top 30, so why did they get left out?

The Addams Family – The biggest strike against this game is that I barely remember it. I rented it one time and couldn’t tell you much about it. I think there was an owl at one point? /shrug

The Adventure of Link – My entire recollection of Zelda 2 consists of this boss (mini-boss? I don’t know). I borrowed the game from a friend and I could not beat this thing. I actually think the game looks pretty cool, but I can’t really put it on a top list if I only remember 5 seconds of it, can I?

Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers 2 – Not much different than the first entry, but a whole lot more expensive.

Contra – I dislike it because I’m bad at it.

Deja Vu – Just say no to point and click adventure games with an NES controller. Besides problems with the controls making everything terribly slow, the puzzles are extremely obtuse.

Disney’s The Little Mermaid – I shoot bubbles with my tail? No, do not like.

Donkey Kong – I suppose it’s a classic, but it’s a little on the dull side.

Double Dare – Only played this very briefly. The controls are terrible.

Duck Tales – That fucking pogo stick.

Home Alone – Repetitive and offensive to my eyes and ears.

Pac-Man – Another classic, but better on arcade.

Prince of Persia – The controls are rage inducing. The 60 minute time limit is inexplicable.

River City Ransom – I like RPGs, I like beat’em ups, but this combination of both did nothing for me.

Sesame Street ABC – I played this while sleeping over at a friend’s house when I was really young. The first word it spelled was BUT. Not knowing the difference between BUT and BUTT, I found this hilarious. (No, that doesn’t explain why it wasn’t included on the list).

Where’s Waldo? – I loved Waldo books, but the graphics on this game were too terrible to find anything. Plus it has what, 6 puzzles?

Yoshi – Not a bad game, I just forgot it existed until Murf pointed it out.

Today Nintendo announced the NES Classic, a mini-replica of the original Nintendo Entertainment System, that will come with a pre-loaded library of 30 games. The 30 games selected are not surprising (for both licencing and popularity reasons) but it raises the question – what are your top 30 NES games?

I came up with a list of mine. My total NES games played probably tops out short of 50, so most of the games I’ve played will appear on this list. Inclusion doesn’t necessarily denote quality 😛

Do we forgive hero Mike for being past person Garbage Mike?@ckunzelman

Do you want a sequel? If so what would you want to see the sequel do, story- or gameplay-wise? @CrossChopChris

If you’ve got any feedback, questions, people or topics you’d like to hear on future episodes of the show, you can reach out atMediaMavensCast@gmail.com or on Twitter @_MediaMavens. If you like the show, please give us a review on iTunes or Stitcher.

Is Star Wars political? Or does its Hero’s Arc merely require political strawmen that align with dark vs light side? @aLatinoLawyer

Living Force or Unifying Force, and why? @The_Doc_Webb

Did Clone Wars redeem the prequel era? @The_Doc_Webb

Which is your favorite Star Wars game, and why? @The_Doc_Webb

What’s your favourite Old Republic class? @orkchop

How do romances compare to other Bioware games? @orkchop

Favourite KOTOR (or KOTOR 2) party member? @MustyHobbit

If you’ve got any feedback, questions, people or topics you’d like to hear on future episodes of the show, you can reach out at MediaMavensCast@gmail.com or on Twitter @_MediaMavens. If you like the show, please give us a review on iTunes or Stitcher.

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Do you feel that Days of Future Past was part of hitting a big reset button on the X-Men universe? – @angryCDNdecepticon

Do you read X-Men comics, or any comics? And if so, what’s your favourite? @Duke0619 (Retro Nonsense)

If you could have one of the X-Men’s powers which would you choose? @Buried_on_Mars

(Hypothetically) BioWare has just secured rights to make an X-Men game. Party of 3, who would you bring to the fight? – @MustyHobbit

Listener questions (not about X-Men) (01:09:03)

As I’m largely a ‘retro gamer’ these days, part of what I love about the hobby is hearing people’s origin stories. What are some of your nostalgic memories in gaming and how have they helped establish your gaming habits today? – Paul “Catridge Canuck”

Just curious about the equipment you use to record? – Keno/@lifespiller79

If you could bring any one Game of Thrones character back to life, which would it be and why? @StevenEidher

If you’ve got any feedback, questions, people or topics you’d like to hear on future episodes of the show, you can reach out at MediaMavensCast@gmail.com or on Twitter @_MediaMavens. If you like the show, please give us a review on iTunes or Stitcher.

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Most post-apocalypse/sci-fi shows/movies have very obvious moral messages – do you think there is one with the 100 and if so, what is it? If not, why not? @SerrinneWoW

If you’ve got any feedback, questions, people or topics you’d like to hear on future episodes of the show, you can reach out atMediaMavensCast@gmail.com or on Twitter @_MediaMavens. If you like the show, please give us a review on iTunes or Stitcher.

I recently launched a Patreon specifically for my YouTube channel. I’m a huge fan of Patreon. I think that people making money for their work (even if talking about games is a hobby, it’s still a lot of work) is a good thing. I currently support a dozen creators who I particularly enjoy – video makers, podcasters, writers. For me, it’s a way to say thank you for providing me with hours of entertainment, keep up the good work.

Of course, not everyone feels this way. There’s a lot of backlash against Patreon, specifically (at least that I’ve noticed) in the gaming sphere. Some people consider it begging, some people think “well you’ve been doing this for free for this long, why ask for money now?” and some people, as far as I can tell, are just dicks who are offended at the very idea of people making money off a hobby. I’ve seen this come up in forums, on Twitter, on YouTube videos and in comments.

I had debated starting a Patreon for a while. I wanted to do it, but I was also aware of how it is perceived among some people and didn’t really want to deal with the extra negativity. Eventually, I decided to just go ahead with it (thanks in part due to the push provided by this excellent breakdown of the gender imbalance in games Patreon and its followup over on Go Make Me a Sandwich). I posted the link on Twitter once or twice, and people were really supportive and RT’d it a bunch. That was nice. I again hesitated about posting about it on my YouTube channel even though it’s specifically for my videos so that’s where an announcement should go.

On Saturday I posted a 2 minute video on announcing the Patreon along with some details about it. It was the first (and only) time I mentioned it on YouTube. This happened.

The first time I’ve ever lost more subs than I’ve gained in a day. I actually lost 17 subs the day I published the video (and gained 5 new ones), and 10 the following day.

I posted two videos within a couple hours of each other because I wanted to give people real content as opposed to just a Patreon ad for the day. Here’s how they were received.

In 2 days my Patreon video is 1 dislike away from being my most disliked video ever (that’s honor still belongs to my Fallout 4 video from November – people are just as mad about Fallout no longer being a CRPG as they are about people making money on their videos).

And then there are comments like this.

Also comments that bash other people’s crowdfunding efforts. Sigh.

Now, it’s not all bad, obviously. 11 people have supported me and many people have boosted it or wished me luck. Those people are awesome.

Still, the negative reception makes me wonder – what exactly is the problem? I really don’t understand the backlash for a service that is completely optional. It’s really no different than a Twitch streamer having a subscription button (except on Patreon you can choose the amount you want to give). I’m not really into the streaming scene, but is there as much pushback against the existence of Twitch subscriptions? How about people having a PayPal donation link on their sites?

People run their Patreons in many different ways. Some give exclusive content to patrons, some send out physical rewards or spend time on Skype with patrons at certain levels. Some treat Patreon more as a tip jar, where there are no different reward levels or ‘goals’. I have my preferences for certain practices over others. If someone runs their Patreon in a way I don’t like, then I just don’t support them. If I don’t think their content is worth any of my money, then I just don’t support them. If I find they spend more time promoting their Patreon then making content… getting the picture?

What is it about the idea of people giving their viewers the option of tossing them a few bucks that offends people so?